Trade key to ensuring food security in a time of crisis –Okonjo-Iweala

The director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has identified trade as the solution to global cost of living crisis.

Speaking recently at a Trade Dialogues on Food virtual event devoted to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the WTO boss said that the issue of food security remainsed a major concern despite an easing of the food price spike triggered by the war in Ukraine. Trade has an “absolutely central” role to play in ensuring predictable, stable and fair trade in food, she noted.

The jump in food and energy prices triggered by the war “has brought a complete new spotlight” on the issue of food security, the Director-General told participants. “Many of our developing country members, particularly the least developed countries, are on the receiving end of the crises that are happening in the world. This is something they did not cause but they are the ones who are suffering the most from the lack of access to food, from the lack of access to fertilizer, and from high prices resulting from the exchange rate movements and depreciation of currencies.”

With one in five calories traded internationally, “imagine how important the role of trade is now in order to help us solve this problem of access, of building resilience and of managing the volatility of food prices and energy prices,” she said.

According to her, the first and best thing is keeping an open, predictable and stable international multilateral trading system. “Trade has been absolutely central on the food front, and keeping a predictable, stable and fair system is key,” she said

The global body said its members have contributed to this by adopting a Ministerial Decision on World Food Programme (WFP), Food Purchases Exemptions from Export Prohibitions or Restrictions, an immediate response to the crisis in the Black Sea region. They also adopted a Ministerial Declaration on the Emergency Response to Food Insecurity at their 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in June 2022.

In that Declaration, WTO stated that members reaffirm the importance of not imposing export prohibitions or restrictions in a manner inconsistent with relevant WTO provisions.

The Director-General noted that 100 export restrictions on food and fertilizer were imposed following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine but that the number of measures still in place has fallen to 63.

Source: The Sun